I got the matx version versus itx due to the extra pcie slots; I have some spare intel dual lan pcie cards, sil3124 sata cards,etc. Had some spare ddr3, a spare kingston 128gb ssd, and a 350w psu. bought a new case. everything is working. updated to the latest 1.10 bios.

the system is up and running. I cannot get hyper v server 2012 r2 to install as it gives me a hypervisor error upon reboot and does not finish the install. Tried server 2012 r2, which works until I install the hyper-v add-on, and the same issue. hyper v server 2016 preview 3 works flawlessly.

I could not get exsi 5.5u2 or 6.0 with u1 update to work. Both hang at " Relocating modules and starting up the kernel". I attempted to patch version 6 with the sata drivers using one of the tools I found online and also with powercli - no dice.

Recall, this cpu os basically the same thing as the braswell nuc. I have disabled parallel port and serial ports, changed onboard video ram settings, disabled the on-board realtek lan, etc. and no dice. I am at my wits end.

I installed windows 10 and installed vmware workstation 12, and it works perfectly. I would prefer to avoid this option. Any ideas how I could get esxi 6 to work on this?

On this platform a standard ESXi installation hangs with a last message “Relocating modules and starting up the kernel” …

I found out, that at this point the ESXI system is already working. It can be “pinged” but login is failing due to failure completing the installation process (no password set, no management network configured, SSH disabled).

I suggest that the onboard graphics can’t be used by ESXi installer for console and there could be a switch to the serial port console.

Here are some hints from VMware documentation:

Q: What system configuration triggers ESXi to switch its console to a serial port? A: During system boot up, if ESXi finds No VGA Present or Headless flag set in ACPI FADT table and if there is no user specified change in any of the serial services, the DCUI service will display on a serial port.

Ok, we have an unsupported and “headless” platform without graphical local console. Give up now or find a solution?

First of all I posted a VMware feature request on their official site to support this platform in the future and in the second step I thought about a workaround for the meantime :-)

I found three ways to get a working ESXi system on this platform and tested one of them successfully.

The obvious problem are the drivers, or at least the dirvers where the problem ( the system would crash on boot with VT turned on ).

The solution that I've used is to download all the Windows 8/8.1 drivers from the zotac site + the Intel chipset driver from JetWay site for NP591 board ( the newest inf dirver on the JetWay site is dated 02.june 2016.) and integrated the divers into the install and boot wim files using dism.

After installing the Windows Server 2012 R2 did all the possible updates, and only then I've added the Hyper-v role to the Windows. ATM I'm running a virtualised Untangle firewall on my CI323.

The next step is getting ESXI running on my CI323 or Hyper-v Server, the later could be a problem since the system crashes as soon as it's installed on first boot, so there is no possibility to update the server ( could try updating the server with VT turned off in BIOS).

I tried below installers and all FAILED with same error " Relocating modules and starting up the kernel"

-VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201507001-2809209.x86_64.iso

-VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0.update01-3029758.x86_64.iso

-VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0.update02-3620759.x86_64.iso

I'm able to install Kali linux,Redhat linux, pfSense firewall, Sopho XG firewall, Sopho UTM 9 and last but not least XenServer on Zotac Ci323 nano , I would like to know why I can't install ESXi 6.0 on this nifty hardware.

VM Ware community help is much appreciated as I can't continue with my study using ESXi.

For those are trying to make a Celeron n3150 work the instructions are rather simple but you do need to do some work and have at least one working machine to do an install onto a USB thumb drive with. I've also included an image snapshot of the white box ESXi server on a CI323.

Standard disclaimer VMware wont' be supporting this and you'll have to figure out how to use ESXi-Customizer.

1) Make an image using ESXi-Customizer that contains your network driver for your n3150system and the network driver for the installing machine if different and the sata-xachi driver.

2) Install it on to the USB stick, once done reboot, let it boot on the installing machine

3) Setup the IP address information up and shutdown the machine

4) Plug the USB Stick into your n3150 system and power on the machine make sure to set up the boot device to the USB stick partition 1, and save.

5) Let it boot once you get stuck on "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel", power the n3150 system down.

6) Unplug the keyboard, and the monitor they are now useless for awhile..

7) Power on and wait about 5 to 10 minutes.. (less time really but why not right?)

8) Connect using the client to the IP address from any computer in your network

That's it.. if you find it useful, like the post, image of the result is attached. :-)

thanks to learningvms's post I was able to get my Zotac CI323 running with ESXi6. I can connect to the bare metal server with my vmware client, but as far as the actual keyboard/vga console on the Zotac box, its still stuck on "Relocating modules and starting up the kernel". Do we just not have option to use the console here?

It seems that way with no options, the only console I can get is the SSH one. Meaning if it's a real failure it's not going to be very useful to debug in real time, but can still do plenty from the vmware client.

Since it's only for "play" I'm far less concerned, but the dual network ports are nice to play with.

all the Windows 8/8.1 drivers from the zotac site + the Intel chipset driver from JetWay site for NP591 board ( the newest inf dirver on the JetWay site is dated 02.june 2016.) and integrated the divers into the install and boot wim files using dism.

Thanks for a great post. I have a few queries BrunoSmi - I'd appreciate if you could help clarify a bit more.